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Syria-strike foes slam McCain at town hall meeting

PHOENIX — Sen. John McCain felt the heat of opposition to U.S. military intervention in Syria during a town hall meeting here that exposed the emotions and ethic and religious tensions connected to the crisis in the Middle East.

During his opening remarks to the more than one-hour session Thursday, McCain, R-Ariz., had just begun to say that he was against "having a single American boot on the ground" in the Syrian civil war when war opponents shouting "not good enough" and "not good enough at all" interrupted.

"You don't respect our view! We didn't send you to get war for us. We sent you to stop the war," one man yelled from the audience of about 125 people.

Throughout the meeting, critics of the plan to strike Syria told McCain that the United States shouldn't get involved when Syria's neighbors are refusing "to lift a finger" to help, that the U.S. public is against a new war, and that the U.S. has domestic priorities to focus on instead of an attack. One noted that Saddam Hussein's Iraq used chemical weapons in the 1980s without a similar response from the United States.

The crowd waved signs with messages such as "Don't Bomb Syria!!!" and "Shame on McCain!" The scene was largely repeated later Thursday at a second town hall meeting in Tucson, Ariz., although a few Syrian-Americans argued for intervention, according to the Arizona Daily Star.

President Barack Obama has asked Congress to authorize a limited military strike against Syria in response to the administration's conclusion that Syrian President Bashar Assad used chemical weapons against his own people.

As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, McCain voted Wednesday to support a resolution authorizing the use of military force in Syria. The full Senate is expected to vote next week; House timing is less certain.

“Enough is enough. We do not want another engagement in the Middle East.”

Jumana Hadeed, Phoenix

"First of all, I understand your skepticism," McCain told the at-times hostile crowd in Phoenix, which leaned strongly against attacking Syria. "I understand your concern about the United States of America getting involved in another conflict the way that we got involved in Iraq, telling the American people that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. That was the reason to commit our American blood and treasure, and it turned out it was not true."

However, McCain said the situation is serious because it is clear that Assad's regime used chemical weapons to kill more than 1,000 people.

"I'm sure that all of you have seen those graphic and terrible pictures on television, of those children's bodies stacked up," McCain said. "It breaks our heart to see that kind of thing happening to innocent women and children."

McCain emphasized that no one contemplates American troops on the ground in Syria because Congress wouldn't agree to it and the American public wouldn't stand for it.

Mitch Rubin, 58, of Phoenix, stands next to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., with a protest sign during McCain's town hall meeting Sept. 5, 2013, in Phoenix(Photo: Tom Tingle, The Arizona Republic)

To the point about Syria's neighbors, McCain said some of them "are the only ones right now ... that are providing weapons to the (opposition) Free Syrian Army."

Unless the U.S. acts, Assad would get "a green light to use chemical weapons again," and Iran and North Korea also would be emboldened, he said. Doing nothing could lead to bigger problems for the U.S. in the future.

"There's no good option here. If I had a good option for you, I would tell you exactly what it is," McCain said.

But Jumana Hadeed, a Syrian-American who lives in Phoenix, said the best option is "diplomacy and negotiation, not bombs."

Hadeed told McCain that an 18-year-old cousin of hers was killed 10 days ago "by the so-called rebels and al-Qaeda," adding that foreign fighters are streaming into Syria. But she warned against U.S. intervention.

"Enough is enough. We do not want another engagement in the Middle East," she said. "Whether you like Bashar Assad or not — I am not a fan, either — but at least he has a secular government going on over there."

After the town hall meeting, which will be repeated Friday in Prescott, Ariz., McCain told members of the media that he is listening to his constituents. He said some in the audience support intervention in Syria and "there's passion on both sides."

“There's no good option here. If I had a good option for you, I would tell you exactly what it is.”

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

As McCain was speaking to reporters, one Assad critic from Chandler, Ariz., who identified himself only as "Ra'ed" urged him to make the point that Assad was responsible for American military deaths in Iraq.

McCain called on Obama to better communicate to the American people why the action against Syria is necessary.

"I think that it's clear that the American people are frustrated by Iraq, and understandably so," McCain said. "I think they're very reluctant for what may appear to be further American involvement that would endanger any American boot on the ground. And I think that the president of the United States, speaking from the Oval Office, can provide the American people with the assurance that is necessary. And the president is the only person who can do that."

McCain grew impatient with a journalist who asked a question suggesting that he had made up his mind on Syria.

"Do you think I would be having a town hall meeting if I had my mind totally made up? Do you?" McCain responded. "Well, you're asking a dumb question. You're really asking dumb questions."